Battle of the Banner
The Battle of the Banner was the second-largest and most strategically decisive battle of the conflict known as the War of Copper Knives. The battle was fought between forces of Wachter and Ionelus on and around the main bridge of the Old Svalich Road crossing the River Luna. The battle began after a Vallaki Garda officer attempted to prevent an Ionelus soldier from defecting, and ended with a decisive victory for the Wachter Militia and the establishment of a heavily-guarded foothold on Vallaki territory. The Run-Up After the outbreak of conflict months previous, both Wachter and Ionelus had fortified the main bridge crossing between their respective domains, and established permanent garrisons watching the opposite side, as well as satellite garrisons at each crossing point to the north and south. Although their forces had met several times in spontaneous or minor engagements, neither side had yet committed to a full battle. Tensions between the two sides had escalated sharply in recent weeks. Recent skirmishes had resulted in the capture of a Vallaki officer, Corporal Bianca Cardei, and her exchange for a captured Wachter spy, the cook Anca Valentin. Furthermore, tensions had been aggravated by an ongoing famine in Vallaki's territory, exacerbated by the Wachter refusal to allow any shipments of foodstuffs to pass from Wachter's territory into Ionelus', as well as incidents of possible sabotage of Vallaki foodstores by Wachter operatives, though no proof of this was ever found. The Battle Wachter forces had been massing at the Wachter bridgehead throughout the day, and were confronted by a similar buildup of Ionelus soldiers, who regarded the opposite shore with some concern. Wachter forces had been celebrating the birthday of Lord Wachter, and some were probably intoxicated. Corporal Krasimir Svetozar approached the center of the bridge, flag in hand, flanked by a number of his officers, including Gavril Valentin and Boris Blagoev. Corporal Bianca Cardei met them from the other side, along with her second, Lance Corporal Decebal Cuza and the Ezrite Templar Zivon d'Scusa. Svetozar hailed them and offered them the chance to join in the celebration of Ivan Wachter's birthday, offering them food, drink, and a day-long truce. Cardei refused, but not before Wachter soldiers began taunting Vallaki soldiers with pieces of food, suggesting they defect to a lord who would feed them. Several Vallaki soldiers accepted and attempted to cross the bridge, desperate for food; as they did so, Cardei raised her bow and fired at one of the defectors, nearly striking Corporal Svetozar. Immediately, Wachter forces fell back; the river gate was sealed, and their archers took up positions on the cliff-tops overlooking the bridge. Svetozar demanded the surrender of Cardei for the shot; Cardei refused, and Svetozar ordered the attack. Wachter forces swept across the bridge, incapacitating Cardei and Cuza, but were met by reinforcements from the Citadel lead by Natasha Orlov, who badly bloodied the Wachter troops and forced them back onto their side of the Luna. Although wounded, Gavril Valentin rallied Wachter's men for a second, desperate charge; at that exact moment, Krasimir Svetozar kicked in the gates of the Vallaki outpost from behind and shot Orlov in the head. Vallaki forces routed, and were easily mopped up. The Aftermath The final tally marked several dozen dead and wounded Vallaki Garda, along with the death of their commander, Lieutenant Natasha Orlov, and the capture of their two senior officers, Corporal Cardei and Lance Corporal Cuza. Without exaggeration, the fortunes of Vallaki would never recover from this defeat, and the foothold they gained on Vallaki soil lead directly to the Storming of Vallaki a few months later. Their victory was made even more resounding by the discovery, after the battle, of the fact that Natasha Orlov had been for some time an imortij hiding within the Citadel itself; Torets Xanthus Creek and Imogen Leonald of the Fourth Redoubt paraded the corpse through the Western Outskirts, making plain the nature of those who defended Vallaki. Corporal Cardei spent much of the war in a Wachter prison, and her fate remains unknown. A woman claiming to be Corporal Cardei did resurface in Vallaki some time later, but even this new Cardei vanished again without an explanation. Lance Corporal Cuza, after his release from Wachter prisons, later resigned from the Vallaki Garda. One final direct consequence of the battle was that leadership of the Vallaki side fell to Lance Corporal Florica Sima, whose defection in turn to the Wachter side a month or more later lead to the final collapse of Vallaki's defenders.